• Standing at the door,
    dog tags in hand.
    About to tell
    a loved one about
    their loss.

    Thinking of how
    it could have been me.
    Wondering how they
    will react.

    Reaching up
    with heavy hand,
    I knock on the door.

    Waiting nervously,
    I prepare myself
    for what's to come.

    Wishing anxiously
    someone else had come.
    Wanting desperately
    not to have to
    deliver such news.

    He gave his life
    for this country
    that he loved.

    Dying so suddenly
    without warning.
    He never got to say
    "Goodbye, my love."

    Sadly thinking
    how to treat
    the wounds
    I'm sure to inflict.

    Praying for peace
    and getting only
    a saddened heart.

    The only tribute
    I can give
    is this poem.

    His memory
    will never fade
    from my mind.

    His lust
    for life
    never replaced.

    His joy
    in his family
    and his friends,
    never forgotten.

    He will
    live on
    'till the end of time.

    He is
    one of us,
    the unforgotten vet.